2010

December 24

My last trip of the
year was another effort to find some willing
sturgeon. Mike, a friend of his, Dean and
I tried a different spot in the bay today
after launching from Redwood City. We did
have great time firing up the BBQ and drinking
wine.

December 1

Team Seahare strikes again for another
fine load of dungeness crab.

November 29

Well while I was out of town Harold slipped
the crab pots back in so I met him and Paul
at the ramp in Pillar Point for a smooth run
out to get a quick limit of nice dungeness
crab. Tomorrow I'll be going back
out for more or staying home to make crab
bisque.

November 28

Mike (Hawaiian Hooker) was running a marathon
of striped bass and
sturgeon fishing out of Pittsburg,
CA over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
I had to travel most of the weekend, however
I made it home in time to join him for a beautiful
Sunday on the Delta.

My car registered a low of 33 degrees outside
as I made my way North through the East Bay
on 680. The cold didn't seem to deter too
many though as I noticed a decent number of
watercraft at the launch and just off shore.
While waiting for Mike to show up and had
time to hit a Starbuck's and grab us some
coffee. I also picked up some grass shrimp,
bullheads and mud suckers for bait.

Sturgeon were jumping and a few fish were
being hooked here and there but I only had
two good chances at a hook set and I failed
on both... One felt really nice too! We listened
to the radio, chatted and cracked open a couple
of cold ones but the closest action to us
came by the way of a sea lion that had stolen
a small sturgeon from another angler.

We headed back to the ramp just before sundown
to call it day. Sturgeon fishing takes some
skill and I'm glad I had a chance to practice
some more with Mike.

November 22

Harold woke me up Monday morning and dashed
my hopes of spending the morning lounging
around drinking coffee and watching TV. I
was out of bed and made it to Pillar Point
in one hour flat! There's nothing like a little
salt spray in the air to make you feel alive.

He brought along Paul and we pulled 6 pots
and stacked them since the weather looks like
it'll keep us off the water for a few days.
We had a few jumbos but the grade was pretty
consistent although a few were a little sparse
in the legs and a couple were "dirty."
Those dungeness crab were
feisty today and I almost got pinched.

We'll be back on them after Thanksgiving.

November 18

Harold, Pat and I couldn't pass up a BEAUTIFUL
day on the water... (Hope you feel better
soon Henry.) Yep we're back on the dungeness
crab.

As we ran to the first pot we spotted something
that looked familiar. It was the other half
of Harold's float the got whacked by a propeller
on our last outing. It was about a mile inside
of the pot... Yep it's pretty calm out there...
Felt like we were running out on tall cotton.

November 17

I was back out on the lightly fog-shrouded
coast of San Mateo with Harold and Henry today
for a quick limit of big dungeness
crabs. If I go out tomorrow I might
also try for some sand dabs.

November 13

Discover
Angling held a day of fishing for a group
of kids aged 9 to 16 out on the pier at the
Marin Rod & Gun Club. I attended as a
mentor and helped a few of them learn a little
bit about angling. One girl in particular
became very good at casting and I hope she
continues to get to practice her new skills.

The weather was amazing but the fish were
playing hard to get. We did have a couple
of bat rays that the kids
had fun catching, studying and then releasing,
as well as a couple of big jacksmelt.
One fellow out today with a cast net taught
one of the boys how to throw it after he watched
perch being caught.

We held a nice BBQ lunch for everyone and
gave some prizes to the top three new anglers.
I hope to do some more mentoring with Discover
Angling and thanks to Mel, Richard, Mark,
Dan, Jennifer and all the others who helped
out today!

November 11

I still had a score to settle with the local
lingcod so I took one last shot at getting
a keeper today on the Queen
of Hearts. The wind was down in the morning
making it possible to travel down past Pigeon
Point to fish, however we had a big swell
and the water was still churned up and the
rockfish didn't like it one bit.

We wound up with slightly better than half
limits with a vermilion rockfish
taking top honors today. I'll be ready to
try again for lings next year!

November 6

You know you're going to have a great time
when they open the sport take of dungeness
crab on your birthday! My friend
Harold let me crew on his Grady White with
Alan (who also had a birthday today) and Ephraim.

Just 3 miles out of Pillar Point Harbor on
a beautiful day, both on land and sea, we
pulled a few pots and had huge limits of crab
in little time.

November 3

Big swells working there way down the coast
from British Columbia made it a bit interesting
to get out and fish this week since most of
the landings had cancellations due to the
weather. I did find one spot still fishable
and they were targeting white seabass.

I decided to book a trip on the Check Mate
out of Chris's
Fishing Trips in Monterey. I had fished
with Chris's back in the late 80's for rockfish
and salmon so there was a little nostalgia
in going back again. On this Wednesday morning
there were only 6 of us joining skipper Harry
(Tinker) Neece and deckhand Raul Ortize.

Unable to quickly locate any big schools
of squid we decided to set up a drift and
use the squid we already had for bait. It
wasn't long before Chris, a local from Monterey,
started to encounter some resistance when
bringing his line up to check it. His rod
went bendo and about 15-20 minutes later he
had a nice 40 pound fish to pose with.

Try as we might we didn't get another bite
until later that afternoon when Bob, one of
their regulars, boxed a nice fish too. I flylinned
a squid out and had a sea lion pick it up,
however we were hoping at the time that I
had a fish on and that the mischievous pinniped
had snatched it up. Everyone hauled in and
we gave chase as I fought the beast from the
bow. Upon closer examination as the sea lion
surfaced I did not see a fish so we broke
him off. I don't think he was too upset about
the ordeal because he came back to check us
out again.

It was a slow day of fishing for most of
the boats out today but we still had fun and
I'd recommend the boat and crew to anyone
heading to Monterey. We did get to see Risso
dolphins on several occasions.

October 27

Although the weather had just started to
settle down and the wind was forecast to blow
from the Northeast with a Southerly on it's
tail, I was anxious to try for a lingcod
again.

Fifteen of us headed out on the Queen of
Hearts where we found the water considerably
stirred up from the recent big swell. The
sea was still confused and we never had the
same drift twice as we tried hard to get the
rockfish to bite. The weather improved vastly
over the course of the day but those lings
continued to evade me.

A couple were caught but they were not legal
so they got tossed back. Today's catch was
primarily blue, gopher,
and olive rockfish with a
smattering of exotics including some nice
vermilions.

October 22

I was feeling good, kicking back in the big
red Chevy tow rig that hauls the big 10,000
lb. Catamaran "Diabla". We were
cruising Southbound on 19th Ave. in San Francisco
on a Friday night and the Bee Gees were belting
out "Stayin' Alive" as we paraded
down the center lane in traffic. I smiled
as I thought of the 4 lingcod who were happy
to still be alive...

Early Friday morning I drove up to Manny's
home (AKA Diablasmaster) and met his buddy
Oscar. We headed North with the famous sled
"Diabla" stopping to pick up Noah
(Roger) in Marin County. Last year I had fished
Point Sur with Manny and some friends and
we had an epic day, so I was looking forward
to seeing what we'd catch in Northern waters.
It was drizzling a bit and overcast most of
the day but we had a nice launch from Bodega
Bay and ran up 35-40 miles to some seldom-fished
hot spots.

The blues were humongous
and we popped up a couple of nice olives
and a couple of coppers including
an absolute toad that Manny caught. I released
a vermilion that wasn't quite
big enough to compare to the rest of the haul.
Roger had to kick back a couple of those popular
canary rockfish but he and
Oscar both managed to get some fine rockfish.
I finally got a lingcod but
it was too short... AGAIN! Manny and I traded
off catching 3 more but none were quite legal
size.

We had a great time and the weather was pretty
nice most of the day. The wind came up briefly
giving Roger and Oscar some green gills for
awhile but they kept busy pulling on fish.
We had a lot of double hook-ups on big fish
which might explain why my arms were so sore
the next morning, lol!

October 9

I got out today on a Queen of Hearts charter
with a few friends and we hit New Year's,
which is North of Santa Cruz. Right off the
bat I hook up with my 8th lingcod this year
however I had to kick him back. I'm starting
to think this may be the first year I go "lingless"
when it comes to keepers, lol! My bag did
see several large gophers, a vermilion, a
bolina, a few blues and a huge seatrout. I
also had a turbot but he came off as I attempted
to pull him over the rail.

My friend Gene managed a keeper ling as did
a few others. I also caught a classic jackass
Kodak moment when Gene tossed our deckhand
Heather a squid. The picture snapped just
prior to impact; one inch from her nose and
open mouth.

September 28

It's been awhile since I had fished with
a few people I know from Full Speed Fishing
so when I had an offer from Mike (Hawaiian
Hooker) to meet him and Dave (Ponyboy) at
the launch ramp in Monterey I jumped at the
chance. Today's quarry was white seabass.

I arrived at 6 am in Monterey only to check
my phone messages and find out I had some
time to kill due to the guys dealing with
a trailer tire mishap, so off to Pebble Beach
I went in search of the Bank of the West.
I cruised the 17 mile drive and watched it
get light out, gassed up the car and then
hit Starbuck's on the Cannery Row. Of course
I forgot my boots today and felt silly walking
around in capri pants with tennis shoes and
blue socks but oh well.

Mike and Dave showed up and we got out and
into the action in no time. For some reason
unknown to me, I brought my sturgeon leaders
that Ben over at Fisherman's Warehouse had
made for me a few months ago. My rod got hit
first so let's just say the fish were NOT
line shy and maybe they like orange beads.
I thought it was a fluke but they hit my rod
again and Mike got to fight that one. Go figure.
I also brought a Pro Gear without a clicker
so I had to back off the drags and watch for
the fish to hit, then kick the drags back
on CAREFULLY! I didn't horse the fish (which
I'm known to do) and I was thrilled to see
a big beast hit the net.

Dave ripped lips on a fish and got to walk
all around the boat to fight it. Mike's next
one hit a coffee grinder and just about had
him spooled but Dave sprang to the rescue
and ran the fish down. I got to be the net
bitch a few times and there was no shortage
of jellyfish.

After leaving the parking lot and slowly
making my way to the freeway due to a power
outage that royally screwed up traffic, I
made an ice stop. The fish was so big it took
a large garbage bag and another large bag
put on from both ends to cover the fish. I
stacked 5 bags of ice in and prayed it wouldn't
soak the carpet in the back of my PT Cruiser.
On the drive back home I saw that there was
no way I'd hit Bayside Marine in time to weigh
the fish so I took a chance at Phil's
Fish Market in Moss Landing. They rolled
that puppy around on a cart for everyone to
see and then took it to the back where we
weighed it. The fish weighed 45 pounds but
with a pending record at IGFA of a bigger
one, I opted to have them cut it up. A few
of the guys steaked and filleted it while
I kicked back and had some chowder. I got
the bill for the chowder but they were going
to let me slide on the processing.. I said
hell no and kicked them a $20.

August 16

The weather was nice today and my schedule
was open so it was a no-brainer to fish aboard
the Queen of Hearts today. Heather was our
deckhand and she and Bob were in fine form
as we made our way south to Pescadero.

Although the "catching" was a bit
slower today we did get large, quality yellow
and black rockfish, gophers, Chinas
and huge Bolinas. I caught
and released 4 lingcod with
2 coming close to making it to legal size.
As a small consolation prize I did manage
to get the only copper (and
it was a big bugger too) and I did get a very
nice seatrout which is headed
for my kitchen for dinner.

July 31 - August 7

It had been 9 years since I had a chance
to fish the annual Queen of Hearts charter
on the Royal Polaris but by the grace of God
and a credit card I made it happen. We had
a fantastic group of anglers, including my
friends Alecia and Chris. It's always fun
to get to see Bob and Sherry (owners of the
Queen
of Hearts) enjoying time away from their
boat and getting to fish nonstop. We got an
early start, loaded up with large cured sardines
and departed San Diego Harbor. I bunked with
Alecia in room 8 and started setting up gear
and unwinding. Our crew for this trip included
Frank, Dharyl, Billy, Eddie, John, Trevor,
Anthony, and James. The weather was nice and
we were headed for Alijos Rocks.

On the next day, a travel day, Chris indulged
me with my wish to broaden my horizons and
learn how to tie topshots. He brought out
all the necessary equipment to a table and
he showed me how to work with Jerry Brown
hollow braid and Blackwater fluorocarbon.
I caught on real quick and managed to crank
out about 6 or 8 to make sure I had the technique
down solid. Chris was such a pleasant and
capable instructor that I was able to teach
someone else by the end of the trip.

At Alijos we trolled up some nice big wahoo.
Alecia, Chris and I were on team number one;
Alecia on the port corner and me on the starboard.
Alecia scored a decent one but we didn't get
any other takers on that troll. After a few
more rotations we anchored up and set up the
kites. Bob got the lucky first shot at a kite
fish and landed a yellowfin tuna
over 50 pounds. I hooked one on a 4/0 rig
and had a nice fight for about 15 minutes
until it chewed though my 40# fluorocarbon.
Several anglers managed to hook these 80 to
100 pound beasts only to have them ultimately
win. A few smaller managed to find there way
onto the boat but the trip would only yield
11 since they were line shy of the bigger
test. Sherry got one. That woman always does
well on these trips!

Over the next few days the weather picked
up a little as we trolled offshore for a few
more wahoo while looking for tuna. What we
found no shortage of was yellowtail!
They were everywhere and we were happy to
thin the herds. I did finally get a yellowfin
but he was only about 5 pounds so he was released.
Alecia pulled up the hog of the trip; a 49.6
pound yellowtail which earned her the Rollo
jackpot. Kathy was one of the 5 other women
on this trip (and we also had Frank's 8 year
old granddaughter.) We shared a rare double
hook up on the same yellowtail as we fished
side-by-side up on the bow one afternoon.
I saw her go bendo and then watched a yellow
pick up my bait. As we put our rods together
to control tangles it didn't take long to
determine we were on the same fish. When it
was gaffed she graciously gave it to me. During
this time we also added a few dorado and a
handful of grouper to the hold. I should mention
that Chris landed half of the grouper taken
by the boat; a pair in the 30# class as well
as nailing the only black seabass which weighed
50 pounds.

We shot over to Cedros Island in the hopes
of getting into a hot bite on white seabass
but only 2 were boated close to dawn. We elected
to stay in the area and target calico
bass, halibut and
more yellowtail. I rigged up my lightest combo
a Sabre pro series gx197oc rod paired with
my trusty Penn 525 Mag reel. I put a 30# topshot
on it and fashioned a dropper loop intending
to go after halibut that were being caught
in the 30 - 40 pound class. Well wouldn't
you know a yellow would decide to mess with
me. The battle that ensued was almost tantamount
to bringing a knife to a gunfight. That fish
was probably the best fight I had the whole
trip... Until about 30 minutes later when
I hooked another one on the same rod with
a swimbait! I got both of the fish in and
they were both around 25 pounds each. I let
a few small calicos go and watched as Chris,
Sherry, Kathy and Joe all landed nice halibut.
Chris had the biggest butt which he says is
40 pounds but I think it was closer to 50.

We spent our last day of fishing trolling
in search of albacore but we didn't find any.
We did get an incredible display of over a
dozen blue whales. As usual the food was outstanding
and in order to keep from gaining weight I
often scaled back to a half portion. Aside
from my installing a large, green-soap-dispensing,
rubber nose in the shower there was not a
not of pranks pulled on this trip... Slackers!

Saturday morning we offloaded and headed
to Fisherman's
Processing to watch our catch being cleaned,
bagged and tagged. I had just learned of this
new operation and knowing Frank had a hand
in it I had to try it out... (Well winning
a gift certificate towards my processing didn't
hurt either, lol) They were wonderful and
have become my new first choice in San Diego.
I also was able to donate 11 of my 21 yellowtail
to a worthy cause.

I arrived back home with some sushi grade
yellowtail and some very big arms! Chris is
already trying to talk me into a 17 day trip
next year... We'll see.

July 16 - 17

I flew to Loreto, Mexico again this year
for the Fishing for the Mission tournament.
After getting set up at the Cocos
Cabanas and enjoying a few days in and
around town, Jim Duggins paired me up with
Sandy, Maria, Steve and our skipper Pedro
to make a wonderful team and we fished the
boat Faithful Fisher.

Bait was scarce but we managed to buy nice
macks both days. I wore my "lucky"
4th Watch shirt and on day we had
5 nice yellowtail with Maria
making the most of our last live bait and
nailing the biggest yellowtail. Our team had
a very enjoyable day on the water and it was
nice to make some great new friends.

The water was a little cooler and the dorado
had just started to show up so only and handful
were landed during the event. I managed to
get a small one, as did Sandy, on the second
day and we had some huge skipjack and a cabrilla.
(I captained the boat and sent Pedro up to
the bow pulpit with one of my rods to cast
for fish near the shore, in a cove we were
trolling... Told him he had to produce before
I'd let him have the wheel back, lol... He
nailed the cabrilla.)

At the dinner Saturday night, held on the
grounds adjacent to the Mission, our team
found out that we had placed in the top 5
overall for both days, however roosterfish
helped cinch a few of the winners this year.
The largest dorado was 21
lbs.

And the best part... Over $20,000 raised
to continue the great work helping the town
and mission of Loreto. If anyone wants to
go next year feel free to contact me for information.
It's a very affordable tournament and I know
Loreto well.

http://www.fishingforthemission.com/index.asp?m=1&page=29

July 6

Rockfish season has been open for a little
over 2 months now and for one reason or another
I'd yet to wet a line for them. So today I
trusted the weatherman and decided to fish
the Queen of Hearts. Well the wind was blowing
a bit more than called for and the southerly
wind and wave direction made it a a tougher
go than most of us expected. I did catch a
few rockfish and I released
3 small lingcod. I'll give
it another go later this year.

May 8-13

After 20 years of Baja adventures I still
hadn't had a chance to fish the Midriff Islands
in the upper sea of Cortez... Until now. Thanks
to my friend Alecia I decided to try out Baja
Sportfishing's vessel "Erik", departing
from the town of San Felipe.

On Saturday morning Alecia, Kathy and I unpacked
in the largest stateroom aboard which is located
directly behind the wheelhouse. Since this
was not a full charter we had ample room to
spread out our gear. We also had our own A/C
unit, head & shower, and plenty of electrical
plug in outlets for charging camera batteries,
playing radios, etc.

We roamed down to the galley for lunch as
Capt. Pin set the ship on a southbound course
for the islands. We had calm seas and temperatures
in the low 80's. Our first stop would be at
the north end of Isla Angel de la Guarda at
a place called Roca el Angel.

On Sunday morning as we enjoyed breakfast
the pangas were deployed from the rear deck.
The coastline was serene and the bird life
was amazing. I was constantly reaching for
my camera to take nature shots. Alecia and
I were given panga #5 and our delightful pangero
was Alex. We fished for a few hours and Alecia
got the first yellowtail...
and the second, and the third... She had a
pink MirrOlure that kept getting slammed.
It got her four yellows while I wound up with
three cabrilla and a few
assorted bottomfish that I released.

During lunch we came back to the Erik and
they made a move down past Bahia el Pulpito
& Punta Rocosa to the south end of the
island. We headed back out and fished around
Snake Island. We fished until it was just
getting dark and the wind had started to pick
up. It blew pretty hard for about 8 hours
but they managed to anchor us in a good spot
overnight.

I awoke early in the morning on Monday to
our final approach to Isla San Lorenzo. Today
Alecia was the "hot" angler again
but I did manage a few fish during our morning
outing. For the afternoon we moved to Punta
Las Animas and targeted bottomfish. They bit
like crazy! Although the yellowtail had been
giving me the cold shoulder I was rewarded
with a nice sheephead, some
triggerfish and lots of spotted bay bass and
whitefish. I also caught my first brilliant
orange, big eye schneider.

That night we busted out the squid jigs to
pull up some humboldt squid
for bait. I pulled up two before handing off
my Fenwick rod with a Tiburon reel to Alex
to use. Tiburon reels make pulling up squids
a piece-of-cake. A few of the others set up
a monofilament hand line and took turns battling
the brutes tug of war style. Alecia brought
up four. I went up to the top deck to enjoy
a pina colada while I watched the rest of
the "squidfest" below.

On Tuesday morning I decided to dig out the
Rapala I had been saving. The yellowtail went
nuts over it! I pulled in a baker's dozen
before I gave my 40# rig a well deserved rest.
I tossed a megabait on a boil with my 25#
rig and had a larger yellow bust me off. Alecia
was still reeling in a few yellowtail so I
gaffed a couple for her. We saw lots of rafts
of sealions but with so much bait in the area
they never bothered us. As a matter of fact
we seemed to hook up anytime we came close
to a group dozing with their fins raised.
I think they were "holding" yellowtail!

We trolled up to Punta el Muerto where we
had lunch aboard the Erik and enjoyed our
siesta. We stayed anchored in the same place
for our afternoon fishing.

I put another yellowtail in the box before
we shifted to bottomfish. Alecia had a big
strike and we judged it to be a shark by the
look of her leader when she brought her line
up. I think it visited me too. My fight with
the suspected culprit lasted for a minute
or two. My line had only a head and part of
a shoulder left of a huge spotted bay bass.
We put a bunch of assorted bottomfish in the
boat before calling it a day.

On Wednesday Alecia needed to do some filming
that required her to use the panga so I teamed
up with Kathy. She had been fishing with Ruth
but Ruth had chose to take a break from fishing.
Azore was Kathy's pangero. We headed off to
fish for bottomfish and Kathy and I had some
very nice spotted bay bass. We came across
Alecia and Alex just before lunch and they
had found some time to fish. Alecia had a
sheephead, some sierra, a
few yellowtail and a bunch of bottomfish.

That afternoon Alecia remained aboard to
do some film editing so I had a chance to
fish with Alex by myself. We trolled near
shore looking for cabrilla. I released a few
small fish and brought a couple of yellowtail
and a large cabrilla back to the boat.

It was fiesta night and as we turned the
corner of the final cove we could see the
vessel brightly lit up like a cruise ship.
Everyone gathered to dine upstairs on the
top deck. It was a beautiful calm night. We
had carne asada with grilled vegetables and
everything was delicious!

Thursday was our last day and we spent the
morning on Golden Reef about 18 miles offshore
with a light wind coming from the west. As
the morning progressed the wind died to a
gentle breeze. We were hoping to get some
grouper, and a few pangas did. About an hour
before we packed it in a huge school of yellowtail
boiled and we scrambled to bring up our lines
and run over to them. A few people were able
to cast into them and hook up. It was incredible
just to watch. It was the largest school of
yellowtail I have ever seen.

Fish were filleted after lunch as we motored
back to San Felipe. We arrived late in the
day and started to assemble our gear to debark.
The tide was extremely low but we managed
to offload with no trouble. I had just enough
room in my two ice chests to hold my fish
fillets nicely bedded down in crushed ice.

I would recommend fishing the Erik to anyone
who enjoys a laid back fishing adventure with
lots of scenic views and pristine waters.
The crew is very friendly, talented and aim
to please.

April 18

I needed a change of scenery and with luck
I had a chance to run down to Southern California
for an extended weekend. On Sunday my friend
Alecia and I drove to Santa Barbara to hop
aboard the Wavewalker
for some fishing fun. Kevin Reyes rode up
with us and Captain Tiffany Vague, her husband
Shaun and their daughter Vivy met us at the
marina.

Tiffany's dad Captain Dave Bacon had some
GPS numbers plugged in for Tiffany to check
out so it was a practice run for her while
the rest of us got to play. I had faith in
this boat and it's crew so I just showed up
with my fishing license and a brand new Smitty
belt that Alecia had picked up for me. Tiffany
brought out an arsenal of brand spanking new
Penn/Seeker rod combos that were virgins and
rigged up a few with dropper loops. A couple
dozen nicely cured live sardines got tossed
in the live well and we were ready to shove
off.

On calm water under sunny skies we proceeded
to hit spot after spot enjoying friendly banter
and the occasional company of Pacific whiteside
dolphins. My first fish was a salmon
grouper which we released. I contemplated
looking for a magic marker and writing "devirginized
by Baja Bev" on the rod handle... LOL!
Next I caught a sand dab
which I added to the live well... they make
great lingcod bait. I followed that with a
frisky mackerel. Alecia and
Kevin were getting nice whitefish
and Kevin scored a male and female sheephead.
Kevin also landed a cool barber pole
rockfish that had it's picture taken
before being released. A couple of starry
rockfish got to return to the sea
as did a hard-hitting calico bass
that was a joy to fight on that light rod
combo.

I had one nice hook set on a bottom dweller
but it got caught in the rocks and I couldn't
retrieve it. Later at the gas dock I was foiled
again by what was most likely a decent halibut
when it ran though some discarded junk under
the dock. Tiffany has promised me another
shot at that fish next time I come back!

April 15

Today it was just Cheryl, Dave and I out
fishing. The weather was beautiful but all
we managed to catch and release were two salmon
grouper.

April 14

Cheryl, Dave, Sam and I launched Alibi II
from Santa Cruz and fished for salmon
again. The fish were still very deep
and not wanting to bite. Sam brought our only
keeper in although it was a very nice fish
about 16 pounds. I had one shaker that was
close to legal size.

April 7

With a little sleep we decided to replay
yesterday's tactics and troll the Soquel Hole
again off Santa Cruz. I released one shaker
and Cheryl brought in our one keeper salmon.
The wind had picked up a little more today
and made for a tougher troll especially since
the fish were still between 150 - 200 feet
down. We packed it in around 2pm and gave
the boat a well deserved washing.

April 6

Local salmon fishing is
back this year and with the weather cooperating
enough to give it try, team Alibi II hit the
launch ramp in Santa Cruz. Cheryl, Dave, Dennis
and I trolled very deep with downriggers.
We all got to bring in a nice salmon and Dennis
reeled in fish number five for the day. All
fish were caught on hootchies except one on
bait; an anchovy. They ranged in weight from
8- 16 pounds and most were feeding on krill.

March 1

Cheryl, Dave, Jeff & I took off out of
Santa Cruz late this morning for a little
over a 3 hour tour. Today was a sea trail
for Jeff, not the boat. He tried Scopace for
the first time today and managed to hang in
there longer than previous attempts. We had
no rain, no wind, and a fishable swell.

We hit depths from 150' to 250' to catch
7 sand dabs but we culled
kingfish to use later this
year for lingcod and halibut baits.

The water was really clear and there was
lots of birds working just off the harbor.
The swell was dropping but it's getting ready
to blow again. Might be worth a look around
for halibut after the weather settles again.

February 28

Jerry, Leanna, Steve, Doug and I joined Patrick
and Debra on "Peridot"; a beautiful
36' Albin. We left pier 39 in San Francisco
bay and headed for the San Pablo bridge as
the first bloody Mary's were mixed. Doug had
scored us 2 pounds of live grass shrimp and
a few trays of herring. The sun was out and
everyone was hell bent on having a great time
and maybe catching some sturgeon.

We starting on an incoming tide and got hammered
by dungeness crab. We kept flicking the little
buggars off our lines and trying again. I
hooked the first shark of the day. Considering
this was my first foray into the new year
I was very pleased to get a new species to
add to my conquests... Of course my little
leopard shark would've looked
much cooler if I'd held it "color side
out" for the photo before I let it go.

Leanna's awesome sherry cake was laid out
for us, followed by Debra's ham with egg salad
sandwiches. The beer and wine flowed freely
too. During our continuous food feast the
outgoing tide stared to kick into high gear
and some striped bass made a showing as well
as a larger leopard shark that Leanna fought,
photographed and released. Doug had a sizeable
striped bass on but it escaped
just off the stern after rolling to show us
just how fat he was! Patrick, Steve and Leanna
all managed to catch and release stripers
as well.

Just before we called it an afternoon Jerry
ducked into the galley and made some tasty
stombollies in feta cheese sauce. The food
was off the hook all day and all I managed
to bring were some weak ass brownies. Somehow
I even managed to gain 3 beers when I got
home and looked in my cooler, lol!

On the way back in the top deck had fun with
the lower deck with a few slalom-style moves
which had us sliding back and forth in our
deck chairs. I don't think we spilled a drop,
ha-ha.